June 7th through July 29th is Session 4, (Painting, Maintenance, and Improvements), of my 7 Yearly Sessions.
I painted:
a large window frame,
a shelf in the bathroom,
a mirror frame,
the kitchen cabinets and handles,
and the stairs.
As I poured the remaining floor paint into an empty milk jug, I remembered the first can of paint that I opened. It was rusty and didn’t look like there was much left.
I sent a picture to my husband David, who works at a lumberyard.
The picture that I sent to David.
$$$$$$$$
He texted back, “Throw it away.”
The problem is we can’t get this paint anymore. I used it in the living room, hall, and office, and wanted to touch up some corners.
David offered to bring home a paper paint strainer.
I strained the paint into a pitcher and noticed there was still watery rust on top. Using a paper towel, I sopped it up and strained it twice.
After touching up the areas, I poured the leftover paint into a clean, mayonnaise jar. Below is how much was left!
The mayonnaise jar is three-fourths full of “rust-free” paint.
$$$$$$$$$
I repeated the process with the floor paint. I swabbed the rust off, strained it, and put it into a clean milk jug. (There was too much paint for the mayonnaise jar.)
Another trick – I put plastic wrap over the top before I put the lid on. I won’t be battling rust again!
Last month, David and I spent 10 days in Israel. It was amazing!
David and I enjoyed the sunrise over the Dead Sea.
Now, when I read my Bible, I understand so much more because I saw what they were talking about. I “Read Today” about towers.
2 Chronicles 26:5, “He continued to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding through the vision of God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God prospered him.”
NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE
******** God prospered Uzziah as long as he sought Him. What did he do with the money?
But when he became strong, his heart became proud and he acted corruptly. He was unfaithful to God, 2 Chronicles 26:16. He thought he could do whatever he wanted. He decided to be the leader of the church. He tried to burn incense in the sanctuary. Only the priest is allowed to burn incense, 26:16-18.
He raged at the priests and leprosy broke out on his forehead, 26:19, 20. He died a leper and was buried in the field next to the grave of the kings, 26:21-23.
When God sends a monetary blessing, I am to build, restore, or fortify!
Ruins of a tower on top of a hill next to a Canaanite well.
My apologies to those who receive my blog posts through email. The link to the “7 Important Financial Tips from the Bible” was broken. You need to go to moneycrashers.com and search for the article there.
I just finished the book, “The Millionaire Mind” by T. Harv Ecker. In it, he said net worth is built by: 1. Income, 2. Savings, 3. Investments, and 4. Simplification.
“Simplification is consciously creating a lifestyle in which you need less money to live on. By decreasing your cost of living, you increase your savings and the amount of funds available for investing.” T. Harv Ecker
This blog is all about simplification!
I wrote out his “affirmations” and assigned a verse in the Bible to each one. I got stuck on, “I focus on net worth.” While searching for a verse, I ran across “7 Important Financial Tips from the Bible – Verses About Money”. You can find the article at moneycrashers.com.
I missed an important step! I hope you get as much out of this article as I did.
David and I decided to cook for each other for Valentine’s Day.
Saturday night, he baked my favorite cake – Chocolate Chip Torte. Then he made Nachos Supreme and yelled, “It’s ready. Come and get it.”
Not to be outdone, I made my meal on Monday: Prime Rib, Baked Potatoes, Asparagus, Croissants, and a cherry pie.
I froze cherries in two bags last summer. One bag was from the store and one was from the cherry tree at my sister-in-law’s apartment. She picked them from the tree for me.
It was while making the pie that I learned something. I make just the minimum. I wanted a 2-crust pie and made enough dough for one pie. I had to roll it really thin and I didn’t have enough dough left for the second crust.
I have to start doing things as if I have an abundance, not just enough. Had I mixed up enough dough for 2 pies, the crust would have been brown and flaky and I would have had a top crust. Without the top crust, the pie ran over and burned on the cookie sheet under the pan, setting off the smoke detector.
David sweetly picked off a burnt cherry and ate it anyway. (It wasn’t until he ate a piece of pie that I wondered if that tree was a chokecherry tree!)
The meal didn’t get better. Since the oven was on, I put the meat in. It finished a couple of hours early and was cold by the time we ate. (Sigh.) The baked potatoes were fine, but the asparagus was mushy. It wasn’t the meal of my dreams.
Next time, I will make extra pie dough because I can afford the ingredients. I can afford to shut the oven off and preheat it again when it is time to roast the meat. I will stop being cheap and living as if I have just enough. I will live in abundance because God is the one who provides our food.
I woke up at 3:39 a.m. because I had to use the bathroom. I put on my robe, slippers, and looked for the moon to watch the eclipse. I finally found it in the west obscured by clouds.
I looked on Facebook and realized the eclipse occurred on Thursday night. I even shared an article about it but didn’t read it because I thought I already knew the pertinent information.
I missed it completely.
The blood moon was one of the signs that Jesus told us would happen right before he returned. I read those verses every year, see Joel 2:31; Acts 2:20.
Sunday and Monday at a prophecy conference, Joseph Morris spoke about the signs and mentioned the blood moon and lunar eclipse on the 19th. I heard about this event several times this week and still missed it!
These signs show us God is ready to fulfill a promise to send Jesus Christ back to earth a second time. Yes, you have heard this before. Yes, you have read all about it. Yes, you have all the pertinent information but you could still miss it. Just like I missed the eclipse.
If you are unsure, there is a prayer posted on the page of what I “Read Today.” Click on it in the menu.
Jesus is coming back. God promised.
“God is not man, that he might lie, or a son of man, that he might change his mind. Does he speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill?” Numbers 23:19
Christian Standard Bible
He will fulfill it and I will see you later when Jesus comes.
I was up at five, (thank you time change), and turned on the swag light over the kitchen table. It flickered.
I pulled the cord out and it sparked! I yelled for David. I had the curtain in my left hand and the sparking cord in my right hand. The light was plugged in behind the stove. David moved the stove and unplugged it.
I’m heartbroken. This is where I work, read, paint, sew, craft, dream, plan. I just added a crystal garland to this light and decided it was finished.
I moved to the couch and started my devotions.
“…clear out the old to make room for the new,” Leviticus 26:10.
Christian Standard Bible
This light was a Christmas gift from my in-laws after our first child was born. It started life as a brass light. I wrote about my improvements here. Yes, it is old!
I wonder how many other “old” things I am holding onto that I should be releasing. I keep painting, improving, and dressing up things that I should replace. That light came close to starting a fire!
Since then, I am looking at things differently. Is my basement full of old things that I should just throw away? (I’m thinking of a bag of towels.) How can God bless me with new things when my home is stuffed with old things?
I was exposed to COVID on Monday. I wore a mask and little white gloves when I picked up the patient at the ER – just in case. I only spent 5 minutes with her but I spent a few hours with her daughter.
Tuesday, her daughter’s test came back positive. I cleaned the house. I also dusted the baseboards and cleaned the basement – just in case. I canceled practice in my home and told the worship leader I may not be at church on Sunday.
Wednesday, I made a grocery list and menus for 2 weeks – just in case. My verse was Leviticus 9:4, “…For today the Lord is going to appear to you.” CSB
I watched church online and was reminded to encourage myself with Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs. There is nothing better to battle fear and worry than to sing praise to God!
Day 4 of my quarantine and I read this: Leviticus 13:11, “…the priest must pronounce him unclean. He need not quarantine him, for he is unclean.” CSB
It’s funny how I looked at things differently while under quarantine. I prepared for a disaster. Wouldn’t my finances be better if I always planned ahead and was ready for anything? How many times did I say to myself, “Don’t put off ’til tomorrow what you can do today?”
I worked on several things that I have been procrastinating over. I got out the flash drive from our son’s wedding to choose pictures to purchase. (Yes, it was three years ago. Don’t judge. The flash drive was accidentally put in a drawer.) I made seven salads and ordered a credit check.
I finished the week strong. I caught up with the laundry, the reports, updated our tax sheets, cleaned the computer, backed it up, and ran a virus check. They found malware but quickly quarantined it. (That is one quarantine for which I am grateful!)
I finished my work and realized. I didn’t have one symptom! I texted the worship leader to let him know I would be there to play on Sunday. My verse today was: Leviticus 15:5, “…wash his clothes, and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening.” CSB
Even though I did not contract COVID, I still had to wash my clothes, including my coat, bathe, and stay away from others.
Today I made my task list and decided to continue working as if disaster was right around the corner. David saw my list and did one large project for me because he had the day off. Woo-hoo!
I practiced and look forward to playing at church tomorrow. I realize we are incredibly lucky. Many Christians do not have the freedom to go to church. In the Bible, only the High Priest was allowed in God’s presence, once a year.
Leviticus 16:2, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell your brother Aaron that he may not come whenever he wants into the holy place behind the curtain in front of the mercy seat on the ark or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.’ ”
Christian Standard Bible
We get an extra hour of sleep tonight. I encourage you to come early to church. You don’t want to miss one song because praise is your weapon against fear, worry, and sadness.
If your brain is not fully developed until you are 25, then you are not an adult until then. If you live to be 100, you are not middle-aged until 50 to 75 years.
I had a birthday this week, and as much as I hate to admit it, I am middle-aged. At my yearly physical, I found there are perks. I will never need to take another pregnancy test, LOL! I am grateful to report my mammogram was clear. I will not be undergoing another lumpectomy. It was all good news
I wondered if there was something new, I should be doing. My daughter-in-law has more faith in me than I have in myself. She approached me last weekend and asked me to make a penguin costume for my grandson.
Saturday…
She sent me a link to look at the costume she wanted. After I agreed to make it, she ran to Hobby Lobby for supplies. She dropped them off that evening. There was no pattern!
To make the job even more difficult, my sewing machine stopped. I oiled it but it would only run for 30 seconds and then just stopped. Luckily, my daughter Laura lent me her sewing machine.
Sunday…
I was up at 4:00 am reading the directions and looking for shortcuts – Velcro dots instead of a zipper! Zigzag stitch instead of bias pieces to reinforce the openings.
Gideon thought I was crazy when I measured him from hairline to the end of his nose, shoulder to fingertip, shoulder to the elbow, shoulder to knees, around his elbow, and his ankle. To confuse him further, Rachel took off his shoe and I outlined it on the back of the instructions. Then I measured the hole in the shoe!
Monday…
I said a prayer, and using a pair of his pajamas as a guide, I cut out the front piece and two back pieces. I cut out 2 left sides. (Sigh.) I cut a right side out.
I cut out the center white panel and tried to sew it to the black, front piece. Laura’s machine was temperamental. It sewed a straight stitch no matter which one I selected. It has one speed – slow. The flannel kept folding over. I had to stop every half-inch to move the presser foot! I stuffed the white panel and called it a day.
Tuesday…
My confidence was lacking. Then I read today’s chapters and saw this:
Exodus 27:8, “…You are to make it just as it was shown to you…”
Christian Standard Bible
I said another prayer and asked God to show me how to make the costume. I put a piece of paper over the shoe outline and held it up to the sliding glass door. I traced the outline of the shoe. Then I measured out 2 inches around it. I cut out the oval. I folded it twice lengthwise and made an angled cut. When I folded it flat, I had a pattern for the webbed feet.
I cut out four. I folded the pattern in half and found the center of the shoe hole. I cut out 1 1/4″ to make a 2 1/2″ hole. I sewed one bootie together and stuffed it.
I used the measurement from the nose to the hairline as a guide for the length of the beak. I sewed it together. God nudged me to a drinking glass that was the perfect size opening for the whites of the eyes. Then he reminded me of the cookie scoop that was the size of the blacks of the eyes. I cut out patterns and laid them on the beak on top of the knit hat Rachel had provided.
Derek brought Gideon over after work for a fitting. Everything worked! He even liked the large eyes.
Wednesday…
It’s my birthday and I am determined to finish the costume. I sewed together the flippers, second bootie, and sewed the beak and eyes to the knit hat before lunch. I started to relax.
After lunch, I hemmed the body of the penguin. I didn’t leave enough room for the elastic in 2 places. I had to rip both of those sections out and stitch them again. Then I threaded the elastic in. I sewed the flippers on with three rows of stitching. The final touch was a small bow tie that I made and sewed onto the front.
I took it to Rachel after church. She said “Happy Birthday! What did you do today?” I looked at the costume.
Gideon’s Penguin Costume, 2021
Thursday…
God reminded me that I am appointed by name, filled with His Spirit, wisdom, understanding, and ability in every craft. I can design artistic works and am a wise, skilled artisan, see Exodus 31:1, 2. That is why, with His help, I was able to make a penguin costume without a pattern! His Holy Spirit guided me.
Like Moses, I had to cut out the pattern to the back twice, see Exodus 34:1. But I look forward to what He will have me create next, see Exodus 38:23.
“…My computer was frozen on the ‘Initializing System Restore’ screen for three hours!
I had tried running backup. I didn’t think it worked. I checked the memory in the external hard drive. It wasn’t full. I decided I must have deleted something that I shouldn’t have the last time I cleaned the disk.
Finally, I shut the computer down and restarted it. Then I checked the ‘last backup date’ again. It was today. We didn’t have much to back up so it only took 3 seconds.
I thought it was October 29th. (Sigh.) …”
Journal, October 22, 2021
That was one disaster that I brought on myself. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place because my tech guy was promoted to heaven. I’m sure he had a good laugh. I am grateful for all he taught me and that he made me do it instead of doing it for me.
Disasters everywhere…
I read about disasters this week in Exodus. Each plague was a disaster but those who followed the instructions of the Lord took precautions and were unharmed, see Exodus 9:20, 21. Some plagues, God only sent to the Egyptians. But these verses showed that he spared those among Pharaoh’s officials who listened.
Isaiah 32:17, “The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.”
New International Version
It’s a matter of heart…
After each plague, Pharaoh hardened his heart. Each plague showed that God was mightier than their gods who were represented by flies, gnats, frogs, etc. God struck to the heart of their beliefs. They believed that a person’s heart was weighed when they died to see if they lived in the afterlife.
“…the Weighing of the Heart ceremony. The deceased person’s heart was placed on one side of the scales; on the opposite side was a feather, which represented standards of truth and justice. … If the heart and feather balanced, the deceased lived in the afterlife…the ‘heart’ of Pharaoh was hardened or, …’was heavy.’ This might be a polemic against Egyptian theology by asserting that God is the One who ‘weighs the heart.’ “
Holyland Illustrated Bible, “The Afterlife: An Egyptian View” by Harold R. Mosley
The worst plague…
The firstborn of every man and animal in Egypt would die but in the Israelite land, not even a dog would snarl, see Exodus 11:7. Their animals slept through that horrible night.
Sometimes, before we can move forward, we have to turn back.
The Israelites left Egypt, and shortly after, Pharaoh mustered his army to bring them back to slavery. Then God gave them the oddest instruction: “Turn back and camp.”
Exodus 14:1, 2, “Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 2) ‘Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Midgol and the sea; you must camp in front of Baal-zephon, facing it by the sea.’ “
Christian Standard Bible
According to abarim-publications.com:
Pi-hahiroth means the “edge of the hollows” or “mouth of caverns.”
Baal-zephon means “Lord of the hidden things.”
Migdol means an encampment in the mountains.
“…an enigmatic place where Israel, with Pharaoh’s army hot on their trail, was told to ‘return’ to and ‘camp before’ … Doing so would place them ‘between’ Migdol and the sea and in front of Baal-zephon…”
Abarim-publications.com/meaning/pi-hahiroth.html
The Israelites were at the edge of the hollows, between the mountains and the sea, and in front of “Hidden Things!” The sea was a seemingly impossible obstacle. But our God, the “Lord of the Hidden Things,” was there ready to show them a new path, that only He could create. This path not only moved them forward but also destroyed their enemies.
Pharaoh thought they were wandering around the land in confusion and the wilderness had boxed them in, see Exodus 14:3. But Moses said: “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation. The Lord will fight for you, and you must be quiet.” (Exodus 14:13, 14).
Don’t try to figure it out. Don’t talk about it. Don’t speculate. God is moving. He drove the sea back with a powerful east wind, see Exodus 14:21. The Israelites were going east. They had to walk into the wind with walls of water on their right and left. Those walls came back down on Pharaoh, his horses, chariots, and army, killing them all.
You may be between a rock and a hard place or boxed in by mountains, caves, a sea, and the unknown. Don’t be afraid. Stand firm. Be quiet and face the wind. I pray that your disaster turns out to not be a disaster at all…like my computer.
“Feelings are not a choice. Your behaviors and thoughts are a choice.”
frugalfish.org 